Cardiff City Press On With ‘Dragon’ Rebrand – 2012/13 Home Kit Will Be Red After All (Photos)

They said it may happen, then they said it probably wouldn’t happen, and now it’s bloody well happening – as of next season, Cardiff City (The Bluebirds) will be playing in a more dragon-y shade of red on the whim of their Malaysian owners, with their away strip reverting to blue and yellow…

Said Cardiff chief executive Alan Whiteley:

“We are only too aware that the change of colour is a radical and some would say revolutionary move which will be met with unease and apprehension by a number of supporters, along with being seen as controversial by many.

“To those I would like to say that this was not a decision that has been taken lightly or without a great deal of thought and debate. There is no getting away from the fact that history and traditions are the lifeblood of any club and as such should be jealously guarded and preserved.

“Both the board and our investors fully understand and respect this and will do their utmost to uphold, protect and promote the values and virtues which the club stands for.”

Now, obviously it’s awful and corporate and soul-destroying, but get used to it. This is exactly the kind of trite business-centric shite we’re going to have to accept and put up with on an increasingly regular basis if professional football is to delay its inevitable implosion.

poor sods Cardiff…poor sods…Now I’m a fulham boy true and true but i can never imagine some wanker coming in and deciding our home kit should be bloody pink and our logo changed to a bloody river for the Thames just cause were from bloody london. lmfao

It’s not a secret that football is just a business now, but this is quite extreme. I can understand their reasoning behind it to an extent (increase revenues in foreign countries, cover debts made by previous owners, etc, etc) but seeing this happen really does sadden me.

As a Cardiff fan I just hope this makes the positive financial change they are hoping for, so royally pissing off Cardiff fans (and I hope of UK football fans in general) has it’s benefits.

Rebranding and franchising. This is how it starts. Won’t be long until United up sticks to London, Liverpool and Everton merge to become Liverpool City, housed in a Megadome in the middle of the docks, and all the London clubs join forces to become England United and play every day at Wembley for a global audience of billions.

@Eckpfosten: Why should Schalke put another G into their logo. They may just add a flame to the current one.

@Chris I disagree with your statement that we simply have to accept it. I can’t imagine of anything worse than getting the name or the colours of my team taken away. Take these symbols and you take my fanhood. Thats why I fully support every Cardiff supporter turning away from his team. And I truly believe that a so reaction by many fans could stop this trend. Call me a naive dreamer, but I think that football still belongs to the fans and that a Club without them can’t have success.

@Manolo Garnix: Things like this – sponsorship deals, executive partners, re-branding, franchising – are the only way that they’re going to be able to delay the bottom falling out due to the bloated nature of the money involved in sustaining a sport which currently pays people £250,000-a-week because across-the-board wage-capping and fiscal responsibility does not a competitive brand make.

Not a Cardiff City fan by any means but this is just plain wrong. I know people say years ago teams have changed their kit colour’s but as time goes on it seems worse changing it nowadays. All good and well trying to chase the asian coin but the owner could sell in a year’s time and they are stuck with colour that has no meaning. They say it’s to promote the ‘Welsh’ tradition but i can’t see this making more people in Asia support Cardiff over the big Premiership teams.

The best thing for the English game is for it to implode, for the money to fall out, and for us all to start going to watch postmen and brickies. All the moneygrabbing superstars can fuck off to play for the human rights abusers out East. The big clubs would still fill their grounds and we’d have our game back.
Looking forward to seeing the Bluebirds version of FCUM/AFC Wimbledon emerge too. Fuck modern football!

Wow, first of all, I’m really sorry for Cardiff City and my sympathy to their fans. Really, no club deserve this.
I’m Indonesian & I seriously don’t see what’s the marketing effect of changing a very original & loved-by-the-fans Bluebird to a red dragon for us Asians.
A. Jarren #19 is right, unless Cardiff City is suddenly in the top 6 of Premier League or move their stadium to Kuala Lumpur, -with all due respect- they won’t be commercially visible for us in this region.
B. The only commercial effect they create is actually now Cardiff City (and QPR) have just lost every single potential fan base that they could’ve ever had in Indonesia (and also in Singapore & Brunei to some extent). We have nothing against these respected clubs, but there’s just no way we would wanna wear these clubs’ jerseys with the current sponsors they have :)